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Gods
Tara is home to countless cultures and, by extension, innumerable deities. The Myriad At its height the Tiberian Ecumene stretched from the Shield Marches in Land's End to Ys in the Savage Sea. Within these boundaries it encompassed roughly three quarters of mankind and effectively ruled the entire Urisian continent for over two thousand years. Maintaining order in such a huge empire meant tolerating conquered peoples, allowing them to keep their old ways. Their beliefs were considered part of the "Myriad", an enormous pantheon of thousands of gods and spirits from every corner of the known world. This tolerance did not include cults that inspired unrest and disobedience, breaking the peace that held the Ecumene together. These religions were banned, rooted out, and even expunged from historical records - the most severe punishment in the empire. Nature Gods * Gea: '''a mother-goddess seen in many Urisian cultures, including early Tiberium, Gea represented the "living earth". In the oldest myths she emerges from out of the sea, resting on the barren land. She takes the gods of the water, wind, and sun as her lovers so that they cannot claim her children for themselves. Gea loved all her offspring equally - even humans were no more favored than ants or flowers. In cold lands she sleeps through the winters. ** A very feminized dryad with supple, pale green skin (turns to gnarled bark on her arms, shoulders, lower legs), barefoot, with flowering vines for hair. Where she walks flowers bloom. Golden eyes, wooden nails and teeth. Always pregnant. Occasionally depicted as grafted to a tree (the Root of the World) when she sleeps through the winter. * '''Gyre: Gyre is the lord of the air and winds and is a free, careless god. He breathes life into all living things and takes joy in his power. He is a lover of sound and music; according to legend Gea stole a breath of life from Gyre's kiss, giving it to her children. Men stole the power of the voice from him. ** A noble bird of prey, an invisible spirit, or a dark storm * Shor: '''restless god of the sea, Shor is ever-changing with no one solid form. He is at once the rain on the mountaintops, the crashing waves, the mist and ice and dew, glaciers and currents, clouds and rivers and fountains. He is everywhere in the world, even in the driest deserts, and is often considered the oldest and most powerful of all the gods. He has many moods and is easily moved to joy or rage, often with little warning. ** Water in any of its forms * '''Duad: Duad is light and life, night and day, death and shadow, a god of visions both true and false. The "ghost fires" near the poles are his domain. Shadows are his servants. ** A shadow on the wall * '''Andiron: '''a lunar goddess once common throughout the world - today she is only worshiped by a handful of cults, such as the Riverine people of Land's End. She presides over blood magic and the female aspect. Andiron is considered a dualistic god; the Morrigan worship her unseen darkside. ** A pale skinned, often bald woman covering one half of her face with her hand, holding a lantern in the other. At other times she is shown as a moth. * '''Krakouro: '''greatest of all the Balefires (chain of over forty active volcanoes in the Savage Sea), Krakouro is worshiped by many islanders as an angry, sleeping god. He becomes enraged when woken and there are many traditions among the islands intended to soothe his wrath. These range from gift offerings to human sacrifice. Each of the Forty Fires is one of his daughters. Only the Mer tribes who dwell on Ys have no fear of him. ** Rarely personified in human form; a giant carved as if from wood, with smoldering eyes and mouth like glowing coals, rising from the sea and crowned in steam and smoke. * '''Desert: '''The Akin tribes worship the very deserts of Outremer, a great sand sea stretching 4000 miles from the High Plains to the Mountains of Mourn. This place of extremes - usually thought of as a barren, empty wasteland - is seen as a great teacher by the Akin. Its lessons are singular and unforgiving, testing their will to survive in such a harsh environment. But the Akin also see the beauty and power of their desert god - the roar of the sandstorm in their blood, the painted dunes, the blessed shade, and the secret gift of water. They love it too much to ever leave, and are pleased to wander it forever. ** No personification Animal Gods * Snake: A common motif in many societies, serpents represent rebirth (the shedding of skin) and the cyclical nature of life and creation, as well as initiation into life's mysteries. * Raven: Raven was once a well-known god among the first tribes in Land's End, however, today he is only remembered in old stories. Regarded as a trickster-god, Raven was strongly associated with doom - war, mutilation, death, and prophecy. He preferred to roost in "hanging trees" where bodies still hung from the branches. ** A Landsman hero once sought out Raven and asked for the gift of prophecy. Raven obliged, pecking out one of his eyes, however, the only future the man could see was his own doom. ** An Morrigan fed many Ravens and kept one - a rare white bird - as a messenger. * Loom: a spider-god, Loom is the weaver of time and fate and has a purely aesthetic sense of reason. She is best known in Ivore and Hue. * Pan: worshiped as the "horned-gods-of-the-wood" in Land's End, the Pan are actually a race of immortal fauns who were enslaved by the first elves. They possess many supernatural talents; an intimate knowledge of the world, extreme longevity, and powerful "geomancy" or "shaping" over the earth and living things. There are stories of Pan in other corners of the world - Yavanna, Porte, etc. - usually dating back to the arrival of elves in those lands. They've also left behind a number of puzzling monuments - now crumbling and overgrown ruins, ranging from elaborate mazes to standing stones, enormous wells (Temple of the Fates), and even the foundations of a whole city (Numitor). Depictions of the Pan can be seen in many cave paintings and crude carvings left behind by ancient men. In the stories they are often cruel and shrewd gods possessed by animal lusts. * "Brazen Bull": once the figurehead of the Tiberian Ecumene, the Brazen Bull represented wealth, power, and vigor. As a symbol it went back thousands of years to when the Tiberians were simple herdsmen, long before they settled on the foundations of Numitor. It was depicted as a golden bull.I ** In the capitol bulls were sacred animals and allowed to wander freely. On the eve of a great election or declaration of war they would be ritually slaughtered. During "triumphs" a red bull, its horns adorned with gold leaf, would lead a parade of victorious soldiers down the capitol's streets. * "Blackfish": patron god of the Tenneu people, Blackfish is the most revered of all the Sealfolk's animal spirits. Said to be the spirit of a great hunter these whales have a friendly relationship with the Sealfolk, helping them in their sealing hunts. The Sealfolk offer them food as gifts - the first catch of fish or the first seal caught is given to the Lord of the Waters. * "Baathyal, Void Queen": at times depicted as the mother of Kraken or a drowned woman, Baathyal is an alien terror presiding over the deep, black sea. She claims sailors who drown out of sight of land. Plant Gods * Antaon/The Root of the World Ancestor/Hero Gods * "First Citizen": the semi-historical founding-father of Tiberium, according to the stories he was just an ordinary citizen - an old, retired soldier - who led his countrymen in deposing their weak king before repelling a foreign invasion. After the war he refused power when it was offered, eventually accepting leadership as Tiberium's "first citizen" rather than its king. Allegedly he laid down many of the country's foundational laws, eventually returning to his farm. Since then all First Consuls have assumed the dual identity of the "First Citizen". ** In reality he was probably many different men or perhaps even just a legend, a foundational myth for a godless empire. Out of tradition his statues have always been headless. * The "Good Master": also known as the "Lion" of Amaranth, this was supposedly the spokesman for the usurpers who betrayed and exiled Prince Remer from the city. He was - literally - lionized by history, depicted as a great winged lion. * King over the Marches: a legendary, nameless king who briefly united the Marches and kept them free from the Landsmen tribes until his death. Had five famous daughters, the eldest of whom was An Morrigan. ** He had rough but plain features, a peasant's face with hard eyes, a grip like iron, and only smiled for his children. Even as an old man he was a great warrior and only fell when his horse was brought down and crushed his body. *** An Morrigan: eldest daughter of the King over the Marches, her mother was a Riverine blood witch exiled for abuse of magic. Her father sacrificed all his future, true-born sons for one powerful daughter. She is said to have sacrificed her own unborn children to prolong her life and beauty. **** She had black eyes, pale skin, black, lustrous hair, and a hook nose, and long nails like talons, and little resemblance to her father or sisters. * Mab: immortal god-queen of Yavanna, seduced 1000 Princes and was mother to a whole continent * Silver-Hand: the elder-king of the elves; heirless, doomed, lost an arm in a battle and had it replaced with living silver (the arm had a will of its own and ultimately betrayed him) * Sea Shepherd: revered by the Shearing islanders, this god is commonly depicted as a constellation of stars and watches over the lost. Demons * MirrorMirror * The Burned Man * Book * Silver =